CHERNOBYL INCIDENT: IAEA CONTAMINATION STUDY

Whether the International Atomic Energy Agency or any other international body of which the United Kingdom is a member is studying the fine-scale distribution of contamination from the Chernobyl explosion, and if not whether they will ensure that this is done.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) undertook a study on the distribution of contamination from the Chernobyl incident, the International Chernobyl Project, which reported in 1991. The overview report of the IAEA study is available in the Library of the House. I
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understand that conditions have not changed since that study. Further specialised work on post-accident conditions in the area around Chernobyl is being undertaken by Belarus, the Ukraine and Russia, for example through their Chernobyl Centre for International Research, in whose work the IAEA plays a part as international co-ordinator. In the United Kingdom, the appropriate government departments have done extensive research on the effects of Chernobyl.